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get more from lifeWed, 07 Dec 2016 21:29:55 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2Free Android Apps To Make Your Smartphone Even Smarterhttp://smartlifeblog.com/free-android-apps-make-smartphone-even-smarter/
http://smartlifeblog.com/free-android-apps-make-smartphone-even-smarter/#commentsThu, 27 Dec 2012 12:00:57 +0000Michael Kwanhttp://smartlifeblog.com/?p=11274Our smartphones are getting pretty darn smart these days. We can use them to check our mail, get driving directions, and even manage our finances. We use travel apps when we’re on the road and plenty of other apps to get things done, but there are even more free Android apps that can help to make your smartphone even smarter.

This list is certainly not exhaustive, but if you want to get the most of your existing Android smartphone, you’ll want to take a serious look at these five apps. They’re free, so even if you decide they’re not for you, you don’t have to worry about spending a single dime. Now that’s smart.

Light Flow Lite

If your Android smartphone already has a notification light, then you’ll know how useful that can be. You can see that you have a text message waiting from you, even when the device is all the way over at the other end of the room. Some smartphones are set up to flash different colors for different notifications, but they don’t give you much control over that. Light Flow Lite does. You can set different colors — assuming your phone supports it — for different notifications, even setting different colored notification LEDs for received emails from different accounts.

The Lite version of this app is a little limited in terms of what notifications it can support, so you may consider upgrading to the $1.99 paid version that opens up notifications for a huge variety of apps. You can have different colors for Foursquare, Facebook, Hootsuite, WhatsApp, and so much more.

Tiny Flashlight + LED

Yes, I know what you’re thinking: it’s just another flashlight app. In some ways, this is true, but Tiny Flashlight + LED is one of those free Android apps that you have to have. While some flashlight apps only let you use the LED light on the back of your phone by camera and others illuminate your entire screen, this one lets you choose either option. There are also additional features like using the light for Morse code, using warning lights, and even adjusting the screen light to different colors if you want. The best way to take advantage of this app is to use the provided widget on one of your homescreens. That makes it far easier to illuminate a dark situation.

Google Authenticator

Online security is becoming even more important and that’s why setting up 2-step verification is a really smart thing to do. This way, if you want to log into your Gmail account from a new computer or mobile device, you have to not only enter your secure password, but also the numeric code generated by this Google Authenticator app. This way, even if someone tries to hack into your Dropbox or Google account elsewhere, they can’t gain access without the unique, time-sensitive, six-digit code.

PayByPhone Android App

You might already have the Starbucks app on your phone to pay for your coffee in the morning without having to whip out your wallet, so why are you still fumbling for coins when you park your car on the street? This is such a simple and easy way to pay those parking meters (as well as parkade fees) when you’re out and about. Simply set up an account with your credit card as a funding source, enter the displayed location number, and go enjoy your lunch, meeting, or whatever other event that has you out on the road. You can even get notifications when your time is about to run out, allowing you to “top up” remotely without running back to feed the meter.

TED Conferences App

While this list is focused on free Android apps that make your smartphone smarter, it’s also important to make yourself smarter too. The “riveting talks by remarkable people” at the various TED conferences can be accessed from other video streaming apps, but the key difference here — aside from having the largest library of TED talks — is that you can bookmark and even download your desired talks for offline enjoyment. Most of them are available in your choice of high quality video, low quality video, or audio only. The subject matter varies greatly, so you’re bound to find something up your alley that will expand your perspective and get you thinking.

Image credit: beyondtherhetoric / Flickr

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]]>http://smartlifeblog.com/free-android-apps-make-smartphone-even-smarter/feed/05 Free Android Apps For Getting Things Donehttp://smartlifeblog.com/getting-things-done-free-android-apps/
http://smartlifeblog.com/getting-things-done-free-android-apps/#commentsFri, 12 Oct 2012 15:24:44 +0000Michael Kwanhttp://smartlifeblog.com/?p=10673Even though our Android smartphones and tablets are very much tools of distraction, thanks to games like Super Stickman Golf and Bad Piggies, they can also be incredibly valuable tools for helping us get things done. And when you utilize the right set of apps, you can get things done smarter, more effectively, and more quickly.

Whether you use your Android device to organize your personal life, your professional life, or just your digital life, these five free Android apps should help to make your life that much easier. I personally use all five of these on a near-daily basis.

HootSuite

We’ve written about HootSuite before, but it’s very much worth revisiting. You can waste a lot of time switching between your various social media apps, like Facebook and Twitter, just so that you can keep up with the rest of the world. When you use HootSuite, everything is neatly organized into a single app. It supports multiple accounts across multiple social networks, letting you sift through your Twitter lists, schedule updates into the future, and preview linked images and webpages without leaving the client.

Better still, it all syncs up with its browser-based equivalent, so anything that you do from the comfort of your computer is automatically applied and saved to the cloud. This way, your experience between your desk and your smartphone is positively seamless.

X-plore File Manager

For better or for worse, there’s no true native file browser or file manager in Android. You need to rely on third-party apps, but you don’t have to root your Android device to get that kind of root access. One of the best file managers I’ve found is X-plore.

It’s particularly handy on tablets, because the user interface shows two panes side-by-side. This way, you can navigate to one folder in one pane, another folder in another pane, and then simply choose the files to copy between the two. This is true for files stored in the internal memory, as well as cloud storage, external memory cards and more. As far as free Android apps go, this is probably one of the most useful.

GTasks: To Do List

I use Google for a lot of things that I do online and that includes my to-do list. Yes, there are other to-do list apps out there like Remember the Milk, but I find that the simplicity of Google Tasks is all I need. Strangely, though, Google doesn’t have an Android app for tasks.

GTasks is a great third-party alternative. It’s not the most complex or robust of the free Android apps, but it gets the job done. You can see your multiple to-do lists, add and remove items, and–in the case of a tablet–see a list and a highlighted item at the same time. It synchronizes with your Google account and there are even several homescreen widgets you use.

Dropbox

Saving things to the cloud is easy and efficient. I’ve tried using alternatives like Google Drive, but I keep coming back to Dropbox because it just works. The folder structure is easy to understand, you can share files and folders with other users, and the whole things synchronizes seamlessly. It also helps that you can set it up so that every photo you take with your Android device is uploaded to the “Camera Uploads” folder in your Dropbox too. Just make sure that you set up 2-step verification to be safe and secure.

AirDroid

As far as mobile devices have come, it’s still easier and more efficient to get things done on a more conventional computer. What if you could take over your Android smartphone or tablet and control it from your PC? AirDroid lets you do that from Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. This includes file management, to be sure, as well as the ability to send and receive text messages, search contacts, check call logs, customize ringtones, play music, and backup apps, among other functions. This is very robust and it all happens over a Wi-Fi connection.

Have you ever had the experience of someone sending you a fascinating article to read on the Internet, but you just don’t have the time to read it right now? I don’t know about you, but what I usually ended up doing was sending the link to myself in the form of an email. The problem with that is that I just ended up creating another problem: an even more crowded and less organized inbox. Not good. It’s even worse when I find something I want to read on my mobile device.

And this is why I’m really starting to enjoy Read It Later Pro for Android. If I don’t have to time to read that post or watch that video right now, I can always get to it later and this wonderful app lets me manage everything on that reading list in an elegant and efficient way.

Does Exactly What It Says It Does

The name of the app is really self-explanatory. It’s designed to let you “read it later.”

Read It Later for Android

When you come across something that you want to read (or watch) later, all you have to do is hit up the “share” option within the Android app that you are using. The natural application here is with the native web browser, but remember that the “share” feature is also included in Google Reader, Pulse Reader, YouTube, and all sorts of other Android apps. It can even store the content for offline reading later.

At that time, you can launch the Read It Later Pro app on your Android device and sift through your reading list. This is easy enough if you only have a few items, but the Pro version of the app also lets you filter the list based on titles and tags. You can also scroll through the content using the volume rocker on your phone, archiving or deleting stuff as you read it.

A Cross-Platform Distraction Manager

Better still, you’re not just restricted to your Android smartphone or tablet. Read It Later is also set up to work with iOS (iPhone/iPad), Kindle Fire, and even your web browser. Certain apps make use of the Read It Later open API for further integration and cross-platform support.

Read It Later Desktop Queue

Shown here is the “new” reading queue on the Read It Later website. You will need to sign up for a free account to use any of the apps, but once you do, your reading list will synchronize across anywhere that you use it. This grid style layout is certainly more pleasing on a larger computer screen, but you can switch to a more basic-looking list format too.

As with the Android app, you can do the searching by title, tag, or URL through the web-based interface too.

What About the Free Version?

Read It Later Pro currently sells in Android Market for a reasonable $2.90, but there is also a free Android app if you want to give that a try first. Just bear in mind that the free version doesn’t let you search through your reading list nor can you necessarily view your entire list at a time.

Smartphones have really changed the way that we interact with the world, because we have the Internet at our fingertips everywhere that we go. The trouble is that, with the exception of using Wi-Fi hotspots, we’re relying on wireless data. And that costs money. And we want to save money.

There are some carriers out there that offer “unlimited” data, but most of us are stuck with mobile data buckets of varying sizes. Just like the minutes we use each month, we should be keeping a keen eye on each megabyte that passes through our smartphones.

If you don’t want to be surprised with massive overage charges on your cell phone bill, you may want to add Onavo to your Android device. It’s a free app that you can find through Android Market.

Managing Your Wireless Costs

In the simplest of terms, Onavo is a data usage monitor. The idea here is that it keeps an eye on every byte of wireless data that you use, ignoring any data that comes by via Wi-Fi. You might already have a way to check up on your data usage via your chosen wireless carrier, but this information is usually taken as an aggregate. Onavo offers much more specific information.

Monitoring Your Usage and Limits

With Onavo, you first define your initial settings so that it understands your monthly limit and when to reset the data counter. You can define when it will give you a warning, based on the percentage of your monthly allotment, and it can even block 3G data altogether when you reach a defined percentage of your plan.

Wireless Data Usage on Onavo

While it does provide the data usage information in aggregate form, Onavo can also break down your data usage based on each day, as well as within each day. That’s pretty useful stuff, allowing you to recognize whether you use more data while at work or while out on the town, for example. If you find that one app is becoming a data hog, you can restrict its Internet access to Wi-Fi, too.

Homescreen Widgets and App Watching

Onavo naturally runs in the background to monitor what you’re doing, but it thankfully seems to use minimal resources. With application monitor on my Galaxy S, I found that Onavo typically only used about 6MB of RAM and about 2.5% of CPU resources.

Onavo Widgets and Apps

This would increase if you used the available homescreen widgets, of course, but they could prove handy for faster “at a glance” information about your data usage. There’s one widget displaying your live data usage, one for your monthly usage, and one for “App Watch,” which monitors the data usage of each individual application.

Saving Your Money

Yes, I realize that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has some great data monitoring functions that weren’t previously available, but Onavo goes even further with its widgets, data blocking, Wi-Fi restricting, and other such features. It’s especially useful if you’re like most of us and you’re still running Froyo or Gingerbread. If you want to keep a closer eye on your data usage (and your wallet), Onavo is a good way to do that.

I don’t know about you, but the “phone” part of my smartphone is really the least important part. It’s much more like a portable computer with its ability to let me update my social networks, check my email, play games, and so on. That’s a good thing, but it also comes with its fair share of problems too, not unlike my home computer.

Just as there are PC viruses and malware, the same can be said about Android smartphones. And that’s why you may considering grabbing the Lookout Security & Antivirus app for the device of your choosing. You likely have a proper antivirus on your PC, so it only makes sense with all this advancing functionality that you offer your smartphone the same level of protection.

It Starts With Mobile Security

When it comes to the free version of this app, there are really three core functions. Not surprisingly, the first of these has to do with mobile security.

Lookout Spyware Scan

There is an antivirus in there that can look for spyware, malware, Trojans, and other nasty things that could infect your phone. You can and probably should set it up to scan every app that you download for these security risks. Even if Google approves the app, it may not necessarily be 100% safe. If you don’t want to deal with manual scanning, an automatic schedule with daily or weekly scans can be configured too.

Find Your Lost Smartphone

The added risk of having a portable device is that you might lose it. The second core function of Lookout Security & Antivirus addresses that problem.

Lookout - Locate Your Phone

You can use this app to find your lost (or stolen) smartphone, even if the thief happened to turn off the GPS. The smartphone will likely need to be on for this function to work, but you can at least track your phone down using Google Maps. Maybe you just left it at the coffee shop.

As you get closer, you can also remotely activate a loud alarm. This works even if the phone (or tablet) is in silent mode. Locating your phone can be done from any web browser.

Backup and Restore Data Too

The third and final function is the ability to backup and restore your list of contacts. This isn’t nearly as robust as MyBackup Pro, but it’s really just a bonus feature and it’s a good backup in case Google Contacts isn’t cooperating for whatever reason.

And that’s about it for the free version of the app. You can choose to upgrade to the premium version for $2.99 and that will give you real-time browsing protection, remote lock and wipe functions, a privacy advisor, and a more robust backup solution.

There is an ongoing joke I have with many of my friends and colleagues. They say that I’m fueled solely by two things: coffee and WiFi…and I’ll be the first to admit that I can hardly live without either one of those necessities. While this Android app won’t help in the caffeine department, it can make sure that I’m connected to the web everywhere that I go.

It’s called the Free Wi-Fi Finder, suitably enough, and it’s provided by the good people at JiWire. On the surface, it might not seem like all that useful a tool. After all, if you already have an Android phone with Wi-Fi, you can just start looking around for hotspots on your own. However, this app is actually a lot more useful when you find yourself among unfamiliar territory, particularly when you’re traveling overseas and don’t have the usual wireless data connection you have back home.

Scanning For Nearby Access Points

The home screen for this app is clean and straightforward, giving you four possible options: Wi-Fi Scanner, Free Wi-Fi Near Me, Search Wi-Fi Directory, and Favorites.

Homescreen on Free Wi-Fi Finder

The first of these isn’t the most useful thing in the world. As previously mentioned, you can just use the native Wi-Fi utility on your Android phone and search accordingly. That said, the graphical interface is nice, showing the nearby Wi-Fi access points as “blips” on a radar screen. There is the “list” layout available too, if you prefer.

Offline Directory of Verified Free Hotspots

But that’s not the main reason why you’d want to get this app. The Wi-Fi radio in your smartphone is only so strong and it will not be able to see every hotspot that is reasonably close to you. This is especially true if you find yourself amidst a concrete jungle of a major metropolitan area.

Hotspot Directory on Free Wi-Fi Finder

The much more powerful aspect of this Free Wi-Fi Finder app is its extensive hotspot directory. This information is available to you when you are offline too, complete with the ability to search through the directory to see what Wi-Fi access points are nearby. This isn’t just for the United States either, as there are over 150,000 verified hotspots listed in 144 countries around the world. That’s fantastic for international travelers.

The directory can be viewed on a map or on a list, and you can search for available hotspots based on an address of your choosing. This helps with some pre-planning too when it comes to choosing where you’ll be heading on your trip. The hotspots can also come with details like a phone number and driving directions, as well as the ability to filter by location type. Don’t want to see the hotspots in restaurants and cafes, sticking to government buildings and libraries instead? Not a problem.

The Internet Should Be Free

It’s not perfect, but it really can be quite the lifesaver when you’re desperate for some mobile Internet. Seeing how the app itself is free, there’s no reason not to have this as part of your repertoire, both at home and abroad. If you don’t have an unlimited wireless data plan on your Android smartphone, this can be a great way to save on those data costs too!

There are literally thousands of apps available through the Android Market and they range from silly games to stock tickers. Some are more useful than others, but if you’re actively engaged in social media, one of the best apps to manage your online social activities is HootSuite. This is no ordinary Twitter client.

For starters, it can handle much more than just Twitter. This is a tool designed to handle your social networking from one convenient location. In addition to Twitter, HootSuite can be used for Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Ping.fm, WordPress, MySpace, and mixi. There are always plans to add more networks and protocols from the HootSuite team, so this list is never quite complete. Not surprisingly, there is support here for multiple accounts, too, though the free version is limited to five social profiles. A HootSuite Pro account is required to get beyond the limit of five.

Works In Tandem With Desktop Client

While you will need to install HootSuite for Android locally on your Android device of choice, the desktop variant does not require a local installation; instead, it runs inside your browser as a web-based app. You get the same kind of functionality, but with a more robust interface.

This also means that, in addition to your account information with the various social networks, you will need to sign up for a free account with HootSuite. When you do, all the information is automatically synchronized between the desktop client and the mobile client. There is an app for iOS too, which will also synchronize with your data.

Additional Features and Functions

For my part, it’s already pretty handy that I’m able to handle my multiple online presences without having to switch between apps. There are other major advantages too.

HootSuite Home Feed

The main timeline is easy enough to read, but you can also swipe through each of the pages as if they were the “columns” of the desktop client. This includes support for mentions, DMs, lists, and so on. When you tap to reply, you can choose which profile you’d like to use as well.

Like the desktop client, the Android version of HootSuite also allows for more powerful features. For instance, there are image uploads, to be sure, but you can also schedule tweets and Facebook updates into the future. While you can’t manage it from the mobile client, HootSuite also allows for RSS syndication, complete with customization of how you want the updates to be formatted and how frequently the RSS feed should be checked.

Foursquare on HootSuite

Attached images are automatically displayed when a tweet is read in full screen, as is the geotargeting information that comes along with things like Foursquare check-ins. The Twitter “conversation” can be followed too and there is even a mobile browser built into the HootSuite Android client, so links can be opened without opening a separate web browser.

Considering the remarkably robust feature set, HootSuite for Android is easily one of my favorite apps and it’s one that I use every day. The limit to five social networks is a bit of a downer, but the upgrade to a Pro account is only $5.99 a month.

Some people seem to believe that BlackBerry has the best business-oriented applications and the iPhone has the best “fun” applications. Why do you have to choose? If you happen to have a Google Android smartphone, you have access to an equally large assortment of mobile apps through the Android Market.

While you can still have a lot of fun with some of the quirkier apps or some of the unique games, you may want some useful apps on there, too. Whether you’re rocking a Motorola DROID, an HTC EVO 4G, or a Samsung Galaxy, it pays to be productive.

Let’s take a look at some of the best productivity apps available for Android smartphones. From remembering errands to connecting with the office, these apps will help you get the job done.

Beacon

Do you use Basecamp to collaborate on projects with your clients and colleagues? It can be a pain going back to your computer just to manage that information and that’s where Beacon by Binary Duo< comes into the picture.

This Android app allows for full offline viewing of all your projects, messages, people, comments, to-dos, and milestones. You can add new information as needed, browse through contacts (including avatars), merge contact information into your phone’s list, and sync data as needed.

Remember the Milk

Your favorite task manager is also available on your smartphone. With Remember the Milk for Android, you can handle everything on your to-do list with ease. It will synchronize in the background to ensure your list is completely up to date.

Email addresses in task items automatically link to the mail application, you can sort to-do items based on a number of criteria, and the app will even detect your current location to determine relevant nearby tasks.

Remember the Milk

eBuddy

More and more people are choosing to communicate online rather than through more conventional avenues like phone calls and text messages. Instead of having multiple IM clients, you can simply use eBuddy for Android.

From a productivity standpoint, it is one of the most efficient IM clients you can have on your Android phone. This is because it amalgamates several chat platforms, including Facebook, MSN, Yahoo!, AIM, and Google Talk.

PayPal

Just realized that you still have unpaid invoice sitting in your account? Rather than waiting until you get home, you can use the PayPal app for Android.

The application can be used to send money, withdraw funds, split checks, and more. You can even “bump” other Android devices to exchange contact information, making it much easier to send funds to someone in real time without having any cash in hand.

CamCard Lite

Who needs physical business cards anymore? Rather than accumulating a stack of dead trees, you can use CamCard Lite to snap photos of these business cards instead.

In doing so, the application will automatically scan and import the information presented on the cards into your phone’s contact list. The Lite version restricts you to just two cards scanned per week, so you may need to invest in the Pro version to handle a great number of interactions.

Dropbox

You may already be using the free online storage offered by Dropbox to synchronize documents across computers or share large files with colleagues. Take it one step further with mobile access via the Dropbox for Android application.

All the contents of your Dropbox account are visible from your Android device, including the ability to stream music and movie files directly on your phone. This can greatly expand the effective storage capacity of your smartphone, including the ability to upload new files at will and share existing files with unique URLs.

Dropbox for Android

Documents To Go

DataViz has been producing versions of this application for a very long time. Even back in the days of the Palm Pilot, Documents To Go has been there to serve the business community. Its functionality, naturally, has been greatly expanded since then.

With Documents To Go for Android, you retain the ability to view and edit Microsoft Office 2007 documents. The package includes Word To Go, Sheet To Go, Slideshow To Go, and PDF To Go.

GDocs for Android

If you’re a regular reader of Smartlife, then you may have already jumped into the wonderful world of cloud computing. If that’s the case, you might not have much stored locally on your computer anymore, relying instead on services like Google Documents.

Using GDocs, you can view and edit just about anything you have saved in your Google Documents account. The application also allows for importing, exporting, and sending documents, as well as full support for multiple accounts.

Evernote

Evernote can be found on a variety of different platforms and Google Android is no exception. With the Evernote app, you get a useful note-taking utility for jotting down important information, but it also serves as a good to-do list.

You can use it just for simple text, but the application also supports some multimedia files, including images and audio. Everything gets stored in the cloud so you can access the information from anywhere you have an Evernote application.

CallTrack

Part of the reason why I prefer email and IM is that I automatically get a record of everything that is said. What can you do for phone calls? While it won’t transcribe the conversation for you, CallTrack will log your phone activity to your Google Calendar.

This makes it monumentally easier for you to remember exactly who called you and when. The options include the ability to filter for incoming calls, outgoing calls, and missed calls, should you feel so inclined.

UPS Mobile

What can brown do for you? Keeping track of all those parcels can leave anyone’s head in a tailspin, so simplify the process with the UPS Mobile app for Android.

Using this application, you can track your shipments, set up new shipments (including the ability to generate and email a waybill label), search for nearby UPS service locations, and receive a rate quote, all from the convenience of your smartphone.